Big Interview: Former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie helping lead the way – in or out of football

Making his first-team debut for the club he supported as a boy, it was far from a dream start for the then 18-year-old who earned himself a sending off during a 1-0 defeat to QPR in December 1995.

Fast-forward two decades and it’s experiences like that which gives him hope that he can be the ideal role model to the youth now dreaming of doing exactly what he did as a fresh-faced midfielder.

Joining fellow former Villa youth player Ryan Amoo, the 41-year-old set-up the Lee Hendrie Academy three years ago, which aims to help young footballers find a way back into the game which so often chews up and spits out thousands of kids each year.

He understands that it’s the ‘love’ of the game which keeps kids coming back to a sport which is renowned for putting the best on a pedestal, whilst seemingly forgetting those who never quite achieved the same acclaim.

“I love football and I always want to be involved in football so, I like to watch football, I like to talk about football, I like to coach football.” He beams.

It’s safe to say the buzz of scoring goals and crunching tackles is still strong, even if he’s not the one doing it.

“Every avenue that I can give something back to the game that’s what I’ve took on-board.”

“I set up the Academy just to help a few of these youngsters get on their feet.

“Some of the lads are potentially not going to get into a football club but some of these lads leave school at 16, and where do they go from there?”

It’s a great question.

For every Lee Hendrie in the world, there are countless players who never quite made it. Those, who for one reason or another, didn’t get offered a professional contract.

Where do they go? Often they end up playing back at a grassroots level, far away from the bright lights of the Premier League, looking for the next chance to showcase their talents to someone who might be able to give them a chance to play the sport they love for a living.

Plenty consider it the end of their dream, but Hendrie doesn’t think that should be the case.

“I just think there’s so much avenue for youngsters to get back into the game.”

“My ideal opportunity is that we get a very good foundation of young players that have maybe been released from football clubs, and it gives them another way of back in of trying to get back into football, because certain kids at 16 get released from clubs and they think it’s finished and it’s over, but it’s not.

“For me [at] 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 you’re still learning the game itself, getting stronger and still trying to maintain being a footballer.

“It’s trying to get some of these young kids who are falling out of football and getting released form clubs who think that’s the end, but it’s not.

“If I see potential in someone I’ll certainly try and get them into a football club so they can get back on the ladder and try and prove a point to clubs.”

What has helped for Hendrie, Amoo and those kids who have become a part of their academy set-up, is the former midfielder’s links with the biggest club in the Midlands.

Recently creating a link with the Aston Villa Foundation, academy members now have a true pathway into professional football – and one willing to provide a chance to youth.

Jack Grealish, Andre Green, Marc Albrighton, Gabriel Agbonlahor and even Gary Cahill are notable products of Villa’s youth system who followed Hendrie.

All of those aforementioned players played first-team football at Villa Park, and whilst he understands that won’t be the case for all of those under his wing, the one-time England international wants to give them all that chance.

“We’ve been running three years so this will be our fourth year coming around.”

“Having that link with Villa now is extra special because we can take the lads up and play friendly games at Bodymoor Heath.

“There have been a couple of lads we’ve sent in on-trial, there’s plenty of potential out there in grassroots football that don’t get the opportunity to prove themselves or approach a professional club.

“I’ve sent a few lads down to Villa and they’ve been playing with the under-23s and been on three or four-week trials. Whether they’re going to get into the actual [Aston Villa] academy itself is one of them, but it’s down to themselves.

“I’d like it to be [a feeder for Villa].

“We run alongside Villa and their foundation where it’s not the academy that they have at Bodymoor Heath every day.

“But Villa have done the foundation side of it where they’re talking to the grassroots kids and you know they’re going to get a lot of kids come through that system.

“Having that tie with them and being associated with them, it’s a big key factor for us that they can have a feel of actually going in and playing at Bodymoor Heath and maybe getting themselves a trial if they’re good enough to get put forward.

“Its been a great connection having that with the club itself.

“We do the soccer camps that are really good, we’ve taken four or five lads, eight, nine, 10-year-olds that have signed for Villa which has been a great advert for what we do.”

It’s a long slog from the youth processes of old, when prospects wouldn’t be showered with cash and have clubs deciding their every move.

Nowadays promising stars are earning countless sums before they’ve even kicked a ball. It’s a huge contrast to the days of cleaning senior players’ boots after a matchday.

“Me and Ryan came through the youth system ourselves, the old one where we did the boot cleaning and I think these days it’s just a matter of giving these kids some guidance on where we might’ve gone wrong and we might’ve made the wrong decisions.

“The main thing for me is learning a lot of respect.” he recalls.

“Sometimes these young kids get knocked for not having respect for people and it’s respecting the game as well as people.

“We’re pretty hard on the lads because we want to get the best out of these kids.

“It’s trying to really let them know what they can achieve if they push themselves to the maximum.

“That’s what I did myself and ended up coming through that youth system and playing for my club and country and I think some of these lads stand down and really take note.”

“I’ve been through tough times myself and I’ve had to dig deep and at the same time I’ve been at the top.

“I’ve been on both ends of the scale really, I can offer so much advice and guidance to these youngsters, I feel that I’ve got a lot to offer.”

And that’s all Hendrie wants to do – offer something to those who need something offered to them.

Whether that happens to end up being a professional contract or not, he’s at least trying to give them an opportunity.

For more information about the Lee Hendrie Academy, visit their website here.